Because this was boring. I'm bored now. The plot was entirely meh, the art was visually unappealing to me and seemed date

I feel like I'm Jack Donaghy

Because this was boring. I'm bored now. The plot was entirely meh, the art was visually unappealing to me and seemed dated. Oooo shadows.... oooo shiny female appendages...blahhhhh. I couldve gotten over the art honestly if the story was compelling, but it was lackluster. Only at one point did I care what was happening and that was when Triton was flashing back to watching a ship sink. The was some deep stuff. The rest was just sort of emo-ish and convoluted. ...more

With the close of Shining Girls I am nearing the end of my Halloween read and I just have to say, thank goodness. The things I read this year were morWith the close of Shining Girls I am nearing the end of my Halloween read and I just have to say, thank goodness. The things I read this year were more violent than scary, and it really started to wear on me as a reader. I’m going to try and put those feelings aside, however, and discuss the merits of just this book.

It left me feeling “meh.” Its really hard for me to not compare it to the Silence of the Lambs, which I read at the same time. I am floored by Harris’ insight to criminal behavior, his skill at evoking hyper-awareness on the reader’s part, his ability to put you into the room. Reading that I was disappointed by how artificial Beukes seemed at times. The vignettes with the Shining Girls have the potential to be gripping, to be absolutely wonderful, as Beukes transports you to some of the most interesting times/places you can be- a black female welder in WWII, the Red Scare, a burlesque show, travelling down a poorly lit street with a Jane…. But the characters, the reasons why they Shine, the reasons why they are important, or why you should feel for them, never really materialize. They are gone before you can connect to them. Sure, you feel horror at the way they are murdered, but you don’t connect with them and it’s a terribly missed opportunity. There is plenty of time to do it in each vignette if the author had maybe left out some of the “Harper rubbed himself through his pants.” Saying that one or twice and perfectly timed is just as effective as saying it in each murder vignette. I seriously want to tell authors “timing, timing, timing!” just like the old real estate adage “location, location, location!” it’s really the same thing isn’t it? In a story, the timing or location of a word for absolute effective is generally more important than repetition.

Second point- Harper fails as a character. Harper touches himself, we understand that he feels a very sexual feeling during the murders. He very much feel s that the girls are making him do this, and in doing this he feels very attached and close to them (silhouetted by his murder of his girlfriend later in the story while screaming “You made me do this, bitch” after he is unfulfilled in his emotional romantic endeavors). He is filling an emotional gap that leads him to murder. Again, that drive and desire is not capitalized on and, in fact, becomes a jarring juxtaposition to the earlier stories of his life where is he truly psychopathic rather than sociopathic, and leaves his brother to squeal in pain while trapped under a truck. There either needed to be more backstory or less of Harper as a main character. He should have either been a character, or the foil of the story, and instead the author left him somewhere in between. It left me bored, unfortunately.

Third- since you never really understand why the Shining girls or shining, it leaves you feeling like you are being confronted by meaningless violence. I understand that there is meaningless (isn’t it all?) violence all around the world, all the time, but this is a story it’s supposed to be telling me something. The murders were graphic, they were terrifying, and I will admit this is where Beukes really shines herself. She does not shy away from the acts, and she takes her time building the story before you really start being present for the full violence. I think that was a good choice, she warmed the waters so you didn’t realize they were boiling. Still, at the end I felt like I had just witnessed a bunch of murders but for no point. I feel like there needed to be some sort of explanation as to why the girls had to die, would they have changed the world if left alive in some way? What was the ultimate end game, what are the stakes? Without these I feel that my reading this book was very voyeuristic and prurient, however, I derived no pleasure from it.

Where the book finally took off was the climax as Kirby (a character that I did fully enjoy) came closer and closer to solving the unsolvable riddle of a time traveling serial killer. But then suddenly the pacing was so skewed. It was over before it really started. And then, then the book just ENDED. You know, I actually would have appreciated the somewhat open ending, I thought it was a brilliant, but it happened so suddenly. I probably would have deleted one of the murder scenes, one of the girls entirely, for a prolonged ending that gave the reader more. The whole thing happened in a snap of the fingers, and when you are going to put the climax of your book that close to the end you really have to work to reward your readers so they don’t feel cut off just as the story got good.

Would I read Beukes again? Sure. Zoo City still seems interesting to me and I picked it up in a Humble Bundle, but I’m really not sure that I have any interest in reading Broken Monsters after this.

Let me start by admitting that I did not finish this book but that I came oh-so-so-so close. I had purchased the audiobook and was only two hours awayLet me start by admitting that I did not finish this book but that I came oh-so-so-so close. I had purchased the audiobook and was only two hours away from the finish line when I finally said fuck it. I’ve got Shirley Jackson’s marvelous “The Haunting of Hill House” on the side, and its just WONDERFUL, and so there is no reason to slog through drivel when I can just move on.

I do have reasons though for quitting. GOOD REASONS THAT THIS IS A BAD BOOK- maybe I can save you some pain:

First - Do NOT get the audiobook. The narrator is just pits. HE tries on these half-hearted accents willy-nilly, and he waffles between talking too slow and too fast for different “characters.” It’s very frustrating and it knocks you out of the listening experience.

Second - If you feel compelled to still get the actual book be prepared for disjointed and bad story telling!

The main problem with this book is that the crime isn’t interesting- it’s just sad. Robert Irwin was a man with very serious problems. He tried to castrate himself, he flew into uncontrollable rages, and in the end he though God would grant him infinite wisdom if he killed the two women, one of whom was Veronica Gedeon. That’s not an interesting crime. He didn’t try and cover his tracks. He didn’t premeditate. The poor man was just absolutely insane, a danger to himself and to those around him. I hate to say that it’s boring, because it’s tragic, but it’s a boring crime to wrap a nonfiction crime novel around. Now the author could have improved the narrative by using this crime as a platform to discuss the evolving state of mental health care in America (psychology was just starting to be widely accepted), about police brutality (17 hour long interrogations at the end of a fist), about shoddy and unscrupulous to the point of evil journalism, or even how crime scene investigation was finally becoming a thing that people did to solve crimes. BUT NO. At most the author nods to these themes by throwing information randomly about but never fully realizing a single idea.

Instead we learn all about Irwin’s crazy life… which isn’t that interesting and could have been done in a single chapter. We learn a little bit about Veronica Gedeon, the model he slew, but the author only talks about her to show why the media was obsessed with this case..

Oh, and randomly you’ll learn about 4 or 5 other murders around Beekman Place, because I think that’s what the author really wanted to write about. It’s really too bad, because the first murder is the most interesting one and it all goes downhill from there.

I would like to get to the part where Liebowitz represents Irwin. Now there is a guy to write a book around! In the last two hours, with Irwin unable to be found after the murders, the book veers wildly off course to ANOTHER murder and we proceed to learn about that victim’s entire family history.

The entire problem with the book can actually be summed up by saying the author had NO consistent thesis. He makes no argument. He just rambles through the story much to the loss of the listener. ...more

Ok here is really my issue with this book. I just want to get the ranting out of the way, because I keep trying to write a review around it and then IOk here is really my issue with this book. I just want to get the ranting out of the way, because I keep trying to write a review around it and then I get distracted by my own eye-rolling. But here is the rant on what I hated, so I can actually get on with my review, because really, I did think that the book was enjoyable. Here goes, please forgive me: the first entire half was a lot of blustering, posturing, and speech giving by men that literally don’t know shit about what they are talking about. I know too many Louis-like people in my life, and so I found him a bit of a chore. A man that can’t seem to help but break his leg or someone else’s leg every time he walks into the woods does not a good survivalist make… nor does a man that can read a god damn terrain map or does any sort of decent scouting regarding rapids when taking a bunch of amateurs out onto the river. If their friend hadn’t been shot, he probably would have drowned. I hate these type of people. These are the type of people that make Park Rangers, Coast Guard, and other climbers risk their lives to save their stupid asses because they bit of way more than they can chew. I have a really big problem with these type of people especially since the media seems to glorify a dangerous, uninformed walk into the woods as some sort of spiritual journey that will lead you to truth (examples: Into the Wild, Deliverance, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Trail). Just stop it already. Learn about what you are doing, then get a guide or someone that *actually* knows what they are doing, THEN GO DO IT. Never ignore the weather, never ignore local advice, and so help me god if I ever see you sink a beer can to the bottom of a stream. When I kayak I spend a lot of disgusting time picking up after that (and so do my parents, who have very congenially turned it into a game of who can win by picking up the most). Pollute in front of me, and you might find your tent slashed later and full of water and muddy beer cans. Or they’ll be in your cooler.

OKAY NOW THAT THAT IS OUT OF THE WAY I CAN ACTUALLY REVIEW THE BOOK:

Deliverance is definitely a dated work, but though some sections do not age as gracefully as others, on the whole it continues to stand up as an interesting read. I would almost argue its less of a suspense novel than a play on the coming of age novel as it’s really about this guy getting over his mid-life crisis, finding something real within himself, growing up a little and becoming whole. The events in the forest help to become more, life is seen in new colors, he *knows* who and what he is now, and it allows him to continue on in the dull-drudgery of city life that he was originally trying to find some escape from.

I have actually never seen the movie, but I was definitely expecting a faster paced book. Still I didn’t mind some of the philosophizing, especially on the part of Mr. Gentry. I generally sympathized with his inner voice to the extent that I agree everyone should get OUTSIDE of themselves, outside of a building, and live a little. The scene in which the original violence was perpetrated was short, and sort of random… I think I would have appreciated a little more motive, a little more explanation, or something… though not necessarily detail. I think he had just the right amount of mystery and imagery to make the events truly horrifying. And I did enjoy Gentry waking up to the carnal-primal side of himself. The rock climb, was good, the depiction of the hunt was good, though I wish it had taken longer, and again, too, I wish that the confrontation with Queen had gone on longer or had more oomph to it. All in all it was a decently enjoyable read and was definitely out of the normal for me....more

So, funny thing happened as I was reading a story about Yellow Fever- it suddenly turned into a three chapter ending about RobWait…

What just happened?

So, funny thing happened as I was reading a story about Yellow Fever- it suddenly turned into a three chapter ending about Robert Church founding the Blues-based Memphis we all know and love today. The problem was that, he was totally absent from the part of the book about Yellow Fever. He was introduced in the beginning along with the other “cast” of characters that would lead us through their personal experiences during the Yellow Fever outbreak of 1878. … And then the author states that we don’t know what happened to Mr. Church during the Outbreak. He might have fled the city with the other refugees, he may have been out of town on business, or he may have stayed and protected his property. We really have no idea… what we do know is that afterwards he became a very rich man of color, unusual for his time. It’s just so awkwardly tacked on to the end of this book, with incredibly loose tie-ins to the fever that it detracts from the overall story, which would have been more poignantly ended on the slow recovery of Memphis shortly after the fever.

It’s called a thesis people. I am a firm believer that history books need them, maybe not spelled out like you're some college student, but you need to know what it is. Your readers should be able to figure it out. Without a guiding principle your book meanders and doesn’t know where it should end.

For composition I would give this book a 2.5, it was going great until the end. For story telling it get s a 3.0, there was a good use of first-hand accounts and an effort to stay away from dramatization while accurately reflecting the horrors the volunteer nurses and doctors were seeing (finding decayed corpses in alleys where people just dropped from the fever and died alone, no one knowing they were there, children covered in flies as black blood burbled from their mouths) but frequently I wanted to know more and we would already be off on some other topic, a 4.5 for the extra effort illuminating the daring of minorities- woman and African Americans, the tensions between poor whites and others, Catholics and protestants, and so on. It was a good social history. In the end, it averages to a 3 for me. Everything was new information, and it was interesting, I just wish the story had felt more guided.

“Mr. Madison Streever, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent re“Mr. Madison Streever, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

I was very much looking forward to this book. I truly enjoyed Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places. I learned so much, and was so excited about what I learned, that I was nearly stopping people on the street to talk about how houses in Alaska are built to try and withstand shifting permafrost, and how Moose start sweating at 20 degrees above zero, etc. Streever’s authorial interjections about his own adventures, used most frequently as a set up for the next chapter, occasionally annoyed me but they were few and far between.

And then…. And then there is this book.

Its really terrible. I mean, I almost feel bad about how much I didn’t like it, but it was so BORING and AGGRAVATING. There was almost nothing about animal or human adaptations to living in the heat, but there was what felt like an infinity of chapters about pipes on oil rigs. The first few chapters are interesting, and I was kind of excited to read the book. I mean, who doesn’t want to know that a camel’s poop is so dry it can be burnt as fuel immediately upon defecation? THAT’S AWESOME. The information on fire was old hat to me, but was still probably new for a lot of people- but this is where the author starts allowing his personality to shine through, and then he never puts it away for the rest of the story. And this should probably be a spoiler alert, but the author is kind of an ass. He gets lost in Death Valley, and while his companion (is this not his wife?) starts to suffer heat exhaustion he decides it’s totally time to go exploring in some caves. He tries to hold his hand over a candle until the pain register an 11 in hopes to commune with the pain of firefighters (at least in this case he ultimately feels foolish). There are just so many instances that are ridiculous.

He specifically mentions stealing from two museums (sure he left a generous donation, but seriously? You just don’t!), while his son was present, and makes what seems to me to be very judgmental criticisms of other nationalities such as describing Germans "their mouths stuffed with bratwurst.". Agh!

But more than that the writing is just bad. Gone is the enthusiasm that we saw in Cold. Now we are left with sentences like this:

We drive through the refinery. We look at columns. We look at pipes. We look at valves. We do not see oil. All the oil is inside the columns, the pipes, the valves.

And

The forty-niners created landscapes as barren as those of Death Valley, or more so, but wetter.

It’s just horrifically boring writing. You really have to slog through it. You read more about the hike on the way to a destination than how the destination embodies one of the Earth’s hottest places. Then on top of the overly simple sentence structure that just drones on, he is constantly running on about fire walking and carbon emissions. Now, I could almost totally see where he was going with the Carbon emission discussion, but he never concludes or fleshes it out… so it’s a running meter in the background of the book that is distracting rather than enlightening. The problem with the fire walking is similar, it’s just thrown in willy-nilly, it seems to not have a point in the book other than something the author could do, and his delivery falls flat here as well.

In the end I would give it zero stars, but that counts as a non-rating, so you get one Bill, just one.

Children of the Night is just not my type of poetry. The flow is very staccato, and for me and my rhythymless inner-voice, the verse creates a kind ofChildren of the Night is just not my type of poetry. The flow is very staccato, and for me and my rhythymless inner-voice, the verse creates a kind of cacophony that I didn’t find pleasant. I like verse and lyrical poetry, and I felt that this kind of bounced me around. It’s also terribly dark, and a little dreary, though I did love the numerous references to Greek mythology (I, too, in Arcadia… it almost makes my degrees seem useful!).

Still I can see the beginnings of who could be a Pultizer Prize winning poet. I’d like to get my hands on some of his later works. He is very crafty in his ability to weave a beautiful picture who’s center is decay. I read somewhere that his later poetry deal with the failure of the American Dream, or rather, the illusion of it. I can definitely see that.

For me this book of poetry was a flop, not because it was bad, but because it wasn’t to my taste. That said, I’d still be interested in looking him up again. ...more

Reading Leaves of Grass is like being stuck next to the drunk philosophy student in a bar that's super enlightened, and he is going to tell you about,Reading Leaves of Grass is like being stuck next to the drunk philosophy student in a bar that's super enlightened, and he is going to tell you about, in a lot of repetitive yet somehow incoherent words. This is a bloated, narcissistic work, that I found rather boring. There are a few golden poems in here, and then there are the 99 in between that are just exhausting.... and did I say repetitive yet? Seriously. It could be titled "Whitman's 1,001 poems about ships on the sea".

I'm not saying I don't recommend Whitman. I'm just saying I would recommend the "Best of Collection" rather than this self-published tome of blaaaaaaah.

I feel like such a failure. I wanted to like this book- it’s been called pivotal, it’s been called crucial, it’s been called wonderful. I call it boriI feel like such a failure. I wanted to like this book- it’s been called pivotal, it’s been called crucial, it’s been called wonderful. I call it boring. I was reading it with a great group of people, and still, I just couldn’t get into a groove with this book. His descriptions of Merlin munching on his beard made me want to gag, the humor didn’t reach me, and White’s constant insert of modern observations jarred me.

I very much feel that if I had a child to read it to, it would be a better experience. Not that I want a kid, I just want to borrow someone’s kid and read them the book. Maybe if I had even read it as a child I would appreciate it more. I tried to get as far as possible, and I made it 50% through the book, in the end it just felt like it was getting in the way of things I would rather be reading.

I’m not rating this book, because it’s a BIG FAT DID NOT FINISH for me.

This book is very reminiscent of the Three Dialogues of Hylas and Philonous toI’m not rating this book, because it’s a BIG FAT DID NOT FINISH for me.

This book is very reminiscent of the Three Dialogues of Hylas and Philonous to me. And, if you don’t know what that piece of literature is, than you aren’t a philosophy student, and you are probably making more money than me, and are making a plethora of other, better life choices. Congratulations. Any ways, I also have a History and a Classics Major, and I do stand by those, but I digress.

The point being, this is a book where largely you have two heads, pretty static in any given scene, arguing the philosophies of science and religion. Normally I would be totally fine with that, but this book isn’t presenting any knowledge or arguments that I haven’t already heard. Understandably, it’s hard for an author to create with believable science that proves God, he wants it to be realistic, and he wants it to be accurate…. But that leaves the reader with a lot of information they’ve already come across if they’ve really thought about these things before.

So let me be frank. I believe in God because I chose (actively, on purpose, with thought) to believe in God. For a while, I didn’t, but I didn’t like the reality, and decided I wanted to believe in a Creator. I also adamantly believe in Science. I believe that God purposely created the Universe not in whimsical mysterious ways, but scientifically and logically, because like any good parent, God wants us to grow up and understand how things work.

In the end, because of that, and because I had looked into these things before, I found the book to be monotonous and boring. I can absolutely see how this book would be of interest to people. I personally, could not connect with the narrator at all, nor in the end, was I particularly interested in the story....more

That’s what the end of the book left me with. When I had barely hit fifty percent of the book my status update mentioned that, whileShipbreaker

Ho-hem.

That’s what the end of the book left me with. When I had barely hit fifty percent of the book my status update mentioned that, while I had enjoyed the book so far, I couldn’t imagine what was going to take Paolo another 200 pages to say. The answer was, not much, more of the same, and it became tedious.

Then, towards the end, it’s almost as if Paolo got bored writing Shipbreaker. The expression “a bright bloom of pain” happened three times in three pages. Really? I mean, and that’s not even the first time there had been a “bright bloom of pain,” frankly, the frequency of the expression was almost thematic in the book.

Nothing intrigued me enough to continue on with the series. I liked Nailer and Pima well enough, the world was interesting enough, but the storyline just dragged. Admittedly I’ve found myself telling people to “Crew up,” lately, it rolls off the tongue nicely, but that’s the only thing about this story that sticks with you. In the end, the emotional parts were not handle deftly, Nailer’s “epiphany” at the end about his father was clunky, and was handled with none of the grace that was present in works like “Gregor the Overlander.”

At the beginning I found myself strangely interested in this book; its really not my cup of tea. I was shocked, and IMy thoughts on Pavilion of Women:

At the beginning I found myself strangely interested in this book; its really not my cup of tea. I was shocked, and I was thinking to myself, “is this really going to be a four star book?” I had trouble putting the book down. Then, at about three-quarters through I realized that what I liked about the book didn’t really have anything in particular to do with the book itself or the author.

I liked all the parts about the Chinese culture, everything was surprising to me as I am really not very well acquainted with anything “Eastern”. To be honest, I’m not that very well acquainted with anything modern either, I kind of focus on the Romans up to the Medieval Age so everything else is just a little surprising and interesting. So I enjoyed hearing about the silk robes, and the family celebrations, and the sense of honor, and while these things were well told by the author, they were what kept me reading not the characters, the philosophical discourse, or the plot, which was quaint but not really enough for me.

The end was very bland, drawn out, and I was unresponsive to it. The philosophical ideas of the author as related by the characters had started out as insightful and interesting, but by the end their placement in the narrative seemed forced and jarring.

So in the end, there was nothing about this particular book that was special, that I don’t feel I could have gotten anywhere else- so three stars. I would definitely read more by the author though, I think I could really enjoy some of the books that she is more well known for, such as the one that she received the Nobel Prize for. ...more

So rarely do I immediately know what I want to say about a book upon completing it. When you have five hundred pages though, you’ve usually got enoughSo rarely do I immediately know what I want to say about a book upon completing it. When you have five hundred pages though, you’ve usually got enough time by the end to decide what you are going to say. I would say that I slogged through those five hundred pages, but kind of meandered, ambled maybe, not stumbled I knew where we were (yay Classics major?), but never did my pace quicken, never did I feel the need to “get somewhere” in the story. I just kind of strolled, but at the pace of an extremely hot day, with the energy being sort of sapped out of you.

It’s an excellent historical fiction. You really cannot argue with Eco’s ability to capture the essence of the time and life within the monastery. I loved the nuance of the politics; it made the Schism and Avignon Papacy much more personal. Place that in juxtaposition with seemingly small monastic ambitions, and it’s gritty and real. I really enjoyed with horror the Inquisition’s chapter and the trial of the heretics. Truly it’s one of the darkest times in human history.

But what of the mystery? Indeed, what of it. It’s a great historical fiction, but a kind of piss-poor mystery if you ask me. The mystery failed to capitalize on the drama of the deaths. Adso in his youth and inhibited emotion could have created for us a much greater sense of horror, anticipation, needs and lust for knowledge, but the author didn’t take advantage of that door to his audience. Furthermore, I felt the mystery had a rather lackluster conclusion. It felt redundant to the book, in fact, which I think could have done more with the meeting between the delegations of the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor and the Inquisition, than it did with the murders and the finis Africae. He spent the wrong 300 pages on the wrong thing.

On top of all that I find this book to be guilty of Literary Sin #4: Cataloguing. Historical fiction authors must balance precariously between accurately mimicking the period but also creating a work that appeals to a modern audience. I felt Eco did decently enough with the dry tone and occasional rambling of the narrator, but he should have contracted the cataloguing nature of his descriptions, particularly in dialogue. “Those vipers, those tempters, those Whores of Babylons, those fatherless babes, those deceivers, those heretics, those invalids, those seducers of the meek, those smellers-of-poo.” Ok, yes, we get it, we got it 8 lines of text ago. While this may dialogue may have been historically accurate, it felt stylistically poor to me. It creates a hum-drumy distance between the reader and the book, which is Literary Sin #3: Knocking Your Reader Out.

This book is largely considered a classic, and so I suppose take my review with a grain of salt. But it’s a solid three for me. I didn’t particularly care for it, but I also never considered not finishing it. I’ve seen part of the movie but it’s been about ten years, so I can’t even commend that. I give it three because it absorbed some of my time, and really, I respect Eco’s knowledge on the subject. It’s pretty damn impressive.

I finished the exorcist early yesterday afternoon, but really, I was composing my review all along while I read the book, and that is unusual for me.I finished the exorcist early yesterday afternoon, but really, I was composing my review all along while I read the book, and that is unusual for me. Sometimes while reading I will think to myself “ah, I should mention that,” but it’s rare that as I’m reading I have second stream of thought. The book started out strong, I don’t know if I was scaring myself, or if it was legitimately giving me the heebie-jeebies, but in the end, the book felt flat.

I found The Exorcist to be disappointing. In all fairness, that may be because I’ve seen the movie. When authors adapt their own book for the screenplay you seem to get one of two results: 1) They take this opportunity to explore alternate methods of storytelling (a la George Martin in the HBO series, he has made a point to make Cersei more sympathetic- bat shit crazy yes- but you understand more where she comes from than you did in the books) or you get.the.exact.same.thing. The Exorcist is the exact same thing. Granted, it’s been years since I’ve seen the movie, but I don’t really remember anything being different.

But knowing what is coming isn’t the only reason there is little suspense to this book. It’s too in your face , every moment with the demon is covered in gore and blatant sexuality. I mean, it’s disturbing, but in today’s market that is not scary. It’s just gross and not to me taste. Honestly there were times that focused so much on excrement I thought I was reading a South Park novel. The book is too obvious to get under your skin and leave your brain racing when you close the book at night.

Plus it takes ages to get to the actual exorcism, and those ages and pages are filled with 1960’s and 70’s pseudo-science. It doesn’t age well. I don’t know if the author was trying to give the book an air of possibility- is it a demon? Is it split personality? I don’t know, if that’s what he was doing with wasn’t adequately delivered. At no point did I really think that Reagan’s problem was psychological, nor did I view the priests as superstitious.

And then there are the priests. Father Merrin’s time in the story was far too short-lived. He created some air of mystery in the first few pages, but was introduced all too quickly at the end to tidy up the book. I felt that the book could have benefited from another hundred pages of Merrin and Karras working together one Karras’ crises of faith and on the exorcism. The introduction of Merrin to Karras’ story could have been so much more powerful than it was. I just never felt connected to any of the characters.

There are some classics that age well, and others do not. This, frankly, has aged better in my opinion than I Am Legend; however, I think I Am Legend was a better story than this one. This work needed more flesh on it and in the end was just far too flimsy for me....more

I finished “I am Legend” this morning over breakfast, and mulled over what I thought about it while I was in the shower. It didn’t take long, becauseI finished “I am Legend” this morning over breakfast, and mulled over what I thought about it while I was in the shower. It didn’t take long, because nothing in this book particularly struck me. In the end I don’t really know what to say about it.

I thought that I would do something different for Halloween this year. I usually read “Dracula” because I love it, but when I saw “I am Legend” for sale I saw my opportunity to explore the Horror genre at a seasonally appropriate time. I’m a pretty big wimp, so I didn’t even attempt to read this book at night, but I would have been fine. There is just no horror in it.

If I was going to increase the scare-factor of the book I would have played up Neville’s separation from his child and wife, or, in particular his wife’s return. I would have increased the description about the vampires. I would have, I don’t know, done anything? The book is just not scary. A lot of people have also said that it’s really about Neville losing his mind. I didn’t see anything particularly superb there. For a while the reader starts to lose track of time with Neville, flitting between the present and the past and conceptions of the future, and this is supposed to show some of Neville’s mental breakdown. It just didn’t do much for me, I didn’t find it illuminating, and I’ve seen other authors do the same thing but much more deftly and with more panache. I found nothing in Neville’s state of mind out of the ordinary, he was in crisis, but since I never felt that connected to him, I didn’t worry about it.

In the end it got three stars only because I did enjoy the premise, and I cared enough about the plot to see it to its fruition, and, in the end, I liked the moralizing of Neville. Plus I always give points to books that kind of created of a new genre or subgenre. I don’t want to discourage anyone from reading it, it’s considered a classic, and a lot of people have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it fell flat with me....more

I applaud any author that is trying to introduce science to a larger audience. I don’t thinkIt’s hard for me to place my feelings regarding this book.

I applaud any author that is trying to introduce science to a larger audience. I don’t think I’ve ever asked someone what their favorite genre was and had them say “science.” I would like for that to happen more, which means, I want to be supportive of authors that are legitimately working in the field. I really appreciate Ms. Roach’s dedication to this book; she didn’t shy away from attending procedures or locations of death, which allowed her to give us a firsthand account of what happens. It’s an obviously well-researched book, in fact, I probably enjoyed the historical tidbits more than anything about the current processes of the morticians. I would have enjoyed more of the hard sciences of death to be present, but I recognize that though the author was capable, that is simply not the direction she chose to take with this book, and that is totally fine. It broadened the audience and kept the pacing of the book which was brisk without loss of impact or information.

But in the end something about this book fell flat to me. Perhaps it was that Ms. Roach’s sense of humor doesn’t appeal to me. I found it knowingly self-deprecating , which came off to me as “look how silly and weird I’m trying to be.” I don’t know- it felt a bit obvious is all. The authors intelligence is apparent, but I frequently felt that she was trying to appear immature and silly, asking constant penis questions and then noting the irritation of the scientist. I felt she was better than that. Not that the penis-information wasn’t interesting, because it was, it was just that her humor regarding it seemed force. I suppose ultimately it felt irritating because other times I felt her humor was genuine, such as in her introduction where she talks about death being the silliest thing that could happen to you. Her true wit and humor showed through there, and it was lovely, elsewhere in the book though I felt that it was forcefully interjected. Still, something HAD to be there, otherwise this book would have been a morbid and impossible read for a lot of people. In the end, though I didn’t care for her humor, I think I was thankful it was there. It provided a needed distraction even if that distraction was me rolling my eyes.

All of that said I never felt squeamish during this book, and I can be wimpy about squeam-inducing corpse stuff. Actually, that’s complicated. I’m more wimpy about the idea of squeam than I am when confronted with it. Blood and guts don’t bother me so much as the idea of blood and guts. I blame the Army, which is where I hope my body will go.

If there is anything I learned from this book it was that I am confirmed in my belief of body donation once I pass. I want everything harvested, and then after that, I would like my body to go to the Army for some sort of IED/landmind protection suits improvement testing. I think I’d like to finish with a bang, but, a useful bang....more

All right, before you read my review please know that I would still rate the entire series 4 star. I gave this book 3 stars because it was ok, it wasAll right, before you read my review please know that I would still rate the entire series 4 star. I gave this book 3 stars because it was ok, it was not good, and it was not great, it was just ok.

First of all the book was so slow. There was no climax, the plot felt completely stagnant, and I was not concerned about what was happening to the characters until about 80 % of the way through the book. Every book needs mini-ups and downs throughout the book to keep the reader on an emotional roller coaster, to keep them involved, so that they feel like they are participating rather than just reading. In my opinion this book simply lacked that.

Second, the characters lost their muchness. Elend and Vin begin to meld into some sort of cohesive unit in the second book, Vin (who was completely awesome in the first book) seemed just to be a shadow of Elend (who is a great guy, but isn’t that interesting). Every thought that she had went back to him, she was hardly an independent character, but instead and extension of his overall character. She was slightly more independent again in this book, but still not interesting.

And the side characters, people who I had loved in previous books, all seemed so one dimensional suddenly.

Things that I did like:

I really enjoyed the expansion of lore in the world. You learn so much more about the Koloss and the Kandra, and it’s really fascinating in my opinion. Those creatures are two of the reasons that I do adore this series; they are so original and fascinating. Also, Marsh the Inquisitor had his role expanded. He was probably the person that I felt the most for, I ached for him, I cheered for him, and I hated him. Also, I cannot say enough I impressed I am with how the story tied together in the end. Every little thing mentioned in the first two books really comes to a head at the end, and you realize how all the pieces have been massively important all along.

Not to mention the regular good fun of Allomancy and Feruchemy, excellent magic systems.

And the single thing that I liked most (view spoiler)[ is that people die, Vin and Elend died, the same way the Clubs, Dockson, and Kelsier died. Heroes don’t often make it out of rebellions, or you know, the Apocalypse. I think that the real sense of loss is important for lasting impact (hide spoiler)]

And that’s just my two cents.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>...more

I want to start by saying that the librivox reading was fantastic, Mark Nelson always does a superb job.

That said, this was easily my least favorite WI want to start by saying that the librivox reading was fantastic, Mark Nelson always does a superb job.

That said, this was easily my least favorite Wodehouse work so far. I truly loved "Love Among the Chickens" etc., but this one didn't hook me at all. I found the main character too obtuse to even be enjoyable, I mean, he didn't seem to have a redeeming quality like Wooster who is hapless, but still witty. It was like watching the first season of the Office, it was just too awkward to even be funny. This being an earlier work, I dont think Wodehouse had found the balance yet between useless and funny. He hadnt hit his stride. Plus it just kind of went on and on and on without a lot of coherency (probably because it was serialized, but so were his other works and they were more enjoyable). I would only recommend this to Wodehousians who've already read everything else there is. As for me, I'll be moving on to another book by him, this one just didn't satisfy my craving....more

I didn’t really enjoy it, leaving me boggled that it is often rated one of the best novels in Western civilization. I have heard many describe Conrad I didn’t really enjoy it, leaving me boggled that it is often rated one of the best novels in Western civilization. I have heard many describe Conrad’s style as superb, but I didn’t see anything that seemed that exemplary to me. Perhaps this is unfair. I think that this review will suffice for now, but I fully intend on revisiting this work sometime. It may be that in a different frame of mind I find it a better work.

Oh, and because I've noticed the vicious attacks on people that don't like the book let me just say that - yes I understand that it was about the horrors of imperialism, and no, it still didn't make it interesting to me. Good message delivered with a sledge hammer is simply not my style....more

I’m going to start off by admitting that I did not enjoy this book. In fact, I never would have read it all except that it had been in my office’s “L I’m going to start off by admitting that I did not enjoy this book. In fact, I never would have read it all except that it had been in my office’s “Lost and Found” for over a year, and I have a theory about books that just show up on your path. If I find a lost book, that I cannot return, I take that as a sign from the Universe. Apparently, this time, the Universe was having a piss. I like to think that I’ve always had a good head on my shoulders. The lsat “pity me” crying phase I went through was when I was 16, and I think that is fair. I enlisted at 17, entered college at 18, graduated with multiple degrees, married at 21, bought a house at 25. I did these things with the full realization that some things in life are hard, but this is what I wanted. Sometimes I wish I could take a step, ANY step, without looking at all the pro’s and con’s first, and neurotically thinking long and hard about each decision. Some people are whimsical and carefree, I am not. It made it even harder to identify with the author. I couldn’t help but think, well, you did all this to yourself. I felt that the book, and author, was far too indulgent. I couldn’t connect with it at all. However, I DO think that the author had some good points. I just think she goes about them wrong. In the world we live in it is so easy to become completely overwhelmed with the “have to have it all” philosophy, and she is right, there is nothing wrong with stepping back from that and thinking we’ve all gone mad. There is also NOTHING wrong with saying “I need to take care of me,” that is not the selfish thought that people try and make it out to be. It’s just like in CPR/First Aid- you make sure you are safe first, so that you can help others, two victims instead of just one isn’t helping anyone. I have far too many female friends that wear themselves paper thin running around and trying to be the perfect woman by taking care of everyone else. It’s easy to do this, you want those around you to know that you are there for them, that they are loved and cared for. Sometimes it’s hard to think, or say, “No.” I think that running away to Italy, India, and Indonesia was a BIT drastic, but if I had the money I would too (though I wouldn’t spend my time fretting about my emotional life). And the author isn’t a bad writer. I really enjoyed her descriptions of the places that she went; she has a knack for really setting you there. I don’t think that this book is irredeemable. I do think that some women really need the message that it ultimately contains. I just wish that a saner less self-possessed person was delivering it....more